ESD Reporting

An ESD report must outline how your development will deliver a sustainable outcome to its occupants and the environment.

This is undertaken through submission of either:

Sustainable Design Assessment (SDA)

An SDA is a short report outlining the sustainable design features of your development. An SDA has been designed so that anyone from the design team can complete it (such as the architect or applicant).

Sustainable Management Plan (SMP)

An SMP is a more detailed assessment of your proposal. An SMP must identify the relevant sustainability targets or performance standards and document the means by which those performance outcomes will be achieved. It may be necessary to engage a sustainability consultant to prepare an SMP.

ESD report templates

Council has established ESD report templates for both an SDA and an SMP that can be downloaded and used as guidance prior to submission to Council.

ESD assessment tools

Environmentally Sustainable Design (ESD) tools are an effective way of demonstrating to Council the ESD credentials of your development. Many of these requirements are mandatory. For further information refer to the SDAPP Fact Sheet – ESD Assessment Tools (PDF - 293KB).

What ESD assessment tool should I use with my planning application?

The most commonly used tools submitted as part of your planning application are:

Both Residential and Non-Residential: Built Environment Sustainability Scorecard (BESS)

Built Environment Sustainability Scorecard (BESS)

STEPS and SDS have been recently integrated into the new Built Environment Sustainability Scorecard (BESS). BESS assesses both residential and non-residential development. BESS has been designed to replace the STEPS and SDS tools.

BESS assess all types of buildings and will adjust the complexity of questions in each category, depending on the scale of your development proposed.

Note: the use of the STEPS and SDS tools will only be accepted by council for planning applications submitted before the 1st July 2016.

Other Environmental Assessment tools

Other tools that may be used by applicants depending on the size of your development include: